3 Jekyll And Hyde Read By Stephanie Poppins

Welcome to Sleep Stories with Steph,

Your go-to podcast that guarantees you a calm and relaxing transition into a great night's sleep.

Today's story is called Dr.

Jekyll and Mr.

Hyde.

First published in 1886,

This story explores the duality of human nature and suggests that within each and every one of us lies both good and evil.

But before we begin,

Let's take a moment to focus on where we are now.

It is time to relax and fully let go.

There is nothing you need to be doing now and nowhere you need to go.

Take a deep breath in through your nose.

Then let it out on a long sigh.

Chapter Two Continued From that time forward,

Mr.

Utterson began to haunt the door in the by-street of shops.

In the morning before office hours,

At noon when business was plenty and time scarce,

At night under the face of the fog-city moon,

By all lights and at all hours of solitude or concourse,

The lawyer was to be found on his chosen post.

If he be Mr.

Hyde,

He thought,

I shall be Mr.

Seek.

And at last his patience was rewarded.

It was a fine dry night,

Frost in the air,

The streets as clean as a ballroom floor,

The lamps unshaken by any wind,

Drawing a regular pattern of light and shadow.

By ten o'clock,

When the shops were closed,

The by-street was very solitary,

And in spite of the low growl of London from all around,

It was very silent.

Small sounds carried far.

Domestic sounds out of the houses were clearly audible on either side of the roadway,

And the rumour of the approach of any passenger preceded him by a long time.

Mr.

Utterson had been some minutes at his post when he was aware of an odd light,

Footstep,

Drawing near.

In the course of his nightly patrols,

He had long grown accustomed to the quaint effect with which the footfalls of a single person,

While he's a great way off,

Suddenly spring out distinct from the vast hum and clatter of the city.

Yet his attention had never before been so sharply and decisively arrested,

And it was with a strong superstitious provision of success that he withdrew into the entry of the court.

The steps drew swiftly nearer,

And swelled out suddenly louder as they turned the end of the street.

The lawyer,

Looking forth from the entry,

Could soon see what manner of man he had to deal with.

Hyde was small,

Very plainly dressed,

And the look of him,

Even at that distance,

Went somehow strongly against the watcher's inclination.

But he made straight for the door,

Crossing the roadway to save time,

And as he came,

He drew a key from his pocket,

Like one approaching home.

Mr.

Hyde,

I think.

Mr.

Utterson stepped out and touched him on the shoulder as he passed.

Mr.

Hyde shrank back,

With a hissing intake of the breath,

But his fear was only momentary.

And though he did not look the lawyer in the face,

He laughed coyly enough.

Ha!

That is my name.

What do you want?

I see you are going in,

Returned the lawyer.

I am an old friend of Dr.

Jekyll's.

Mr.

Utterson of Gaunt Street.

You must have heard my name.

And meeting you so conveniently,

I thought you might admit me.

You will not find Dr.

Jekyll.

He is from home,

Replied Mr.

Hyde,

Blowing in the key,

And suddenly,

Without looking up,

He said,

How did you know me?

On your side,

Said Mr.

Utterson,

Will you do me a favour?

With pleasure,

Replied the other.

What shall it be?

Will you let me see your face?

Mr.

Hyde appeared to hesitate,

And then,

As if upon some sudden reflection,

Fronted about with an air of defiance.

And the pair stared at one another,

Pretty fixedly,

For a few seconds.

Now I shall know you again,

Said Mr.

Utterson.

It may be useful.

Yes,

Replied Mr.

Hyde.

It is as well we have met.

And,

Apropos,

You should have my address.

He gave a number of a street in Soho.

Good God,

Thought Mr.

Utterson,

Can he too have been thinking of the well?

But he kept his feelings to himself,

And only granted an acknowledgement of the address.

And now,

Said the other,

How did you know me?

By description,

Was the reply.

Whose description?

We have common friends,

Said Mr.

Utterson.

Common friends?

Echoed Mr.

Hyde,

A little hoarsely.

Who are they?

Dr.

Jekyll,

For instance.

He never told you,

Cried Mr.

Hyde,

With a flush of anger.

I did not think he would have lied.

Come,

Said Mr.

Utterson,

This is not fitting language.

Hyde snarled aloud into a savage laugh,

And the next moment,

With extraordinary quickness,

He had unlocked the door and disappeared.

Utterson stood a while where Mr.

Hyde had left.

The picture of disquiet tuned.

Then he began slowly to mount the street,

Pausing every step or two,

And putting his hand to his brow like a man in mental perplexity.

The problem he was thus debating as he walked was one of a class that is rarely solved.

Mr.

Hyde was pale and dwarfish.

He gave an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation.

He had a displeasing smile.

He had borne himself to the lawyer with a sort of murderous mixture of timidity and boldness.

And he spoke with a husky,

Whispering,

And somewhat broken voice.

All of these were points against him.

But not all of these together could explain the hitherto unknown disgust,

Loathing,

And fear with which Mr.

Utterson regarded him.

There must be something else,

Said the perplexed gentleman.

There is something more,

If only I could find a name for it.

God bless me,

The man seems hardly human.

Something troglodytic,

Shall we say.

Or can it be the old story of Dr.

Fell?

Or is it the mere radiance of a soul that thus transpires through,

Foul?

My poor old Harry Jekyll.

If I ever read Satan's signature upon a face,

It's that upon your new friend.

Round the corner from the by-street there was a square of ancient handsome houses,

Now for the most part decayed from their high estate,

And let in flats and chambers to all sorts and conditions of men.

One house,

However,

Second from the corner,

Was still occupied in tire,

And at the door of this,

Which wore a great air of wealth and comfort,

Though it was now plunged in darkness except for the fan light,

Mr.

Utterson stopped and knocked.

A well-dressed elderly servant opened the door.

"'Is Jekyll home,

Paul?

' asked the lawyer.

"'I will see,

Mr.

Utterson,

' said Paul,

Admitting the visitor as he spoke,

Into a large low-roofed comfortable hall,

Paved with flags,

Warmed by a bright-open fire,

And furnished with costly cabinets of oak.

"'You wait here by the fire,

Sir,

Or shall I give you a light in the dining-room?

' "'Here,

Thank you,

' said the lawyer,

And he drew near and leaned on the tall fender.

This hall,

In which he was now left alone,

Was a pet fancy of his friend the doctor's,

And Utterson himself was wont to speak of it as the pleasantest room in London.

But to-night there was a shudder in his blood.

The face of Hyde sat heavy on his memory.

He felt a nausea and distaste of life,

And in the gloom of his spirits he seemed to read a menace in the flickering of the fire on the polished cabinets and the uneasy starting of the shadow on the roof.

He was ashamed of his relief when Poole presently returned to announce that Dr.

Jekyll was out.

"'I saw Mr.

Hyde go in by the old dissecting-room door,

Poole,

' Utterson said.

"'Is that right?

I mean,

Dr.

Jekyll is from home.

' "'Quite right,

Mr.

Utterson,

Sir,

' said Poole.

"'Mr.

Hyde has a key.

' "'Your master seems to repose a great deal of trust in that young man.

' "'Yes,

Sir,

He do indeed.

We all have orders to obey him.

' "'I do not think I ever met Mr.

Hyde,

' asked Utterson.

"'Oh,

Dear no.

He never dines here.

We see very little of him on this side of the house.

He mostly comes and goes by the laboratory.

"'Well,

Good-night,

Poole.

' "'Good-night,

Mr.

Utterson.

' And Utterson set out homeward with a very heavy heart.

"'Poor Harry Jekyll,

' he thought.

"'My mind misgives he's in very deep waters.

' "'He was wild when he was young,

A long while ago,

To be sure.

But in the law of God there's no statute of limitations.

"'His past was fairly blameless.

Few men could read the roles of their life with less apprehension.

Yet he was humble to the dust by the many old things he'd done.

"'It must be that.

The ghost of some old sin,

The cancer of some concealed disgrace.

Punishment coming.

"'This Master Hyde,

If he was studied,

Must have secrets of his own.

Black secrets by the look of him.

Secrets compared to which poor Jekyll's worst would be like sunshine.

"'Things cannot continue as they are.

"'It turns me cold to think of this creature stealing like a thief to Harry's bedside.

"'Poor Harry.

What awakening.

"'And the danger of it.

"'For if this Hyde suspects the existence of the will,

He might grow impatient to inherit.

'